Baseball: Wayne Valley a year older and wiser

STRONG ROTATION - Wayne Valley senior Mike D'Amato, right, is one of three returning pitchers in the Indians' rotation this season.

WAYNE - Like most high school baseball coaches, Wayne Valley's Jeff Hoover never admits to looking ahead to the next season. In 2012, though, he concedes that looking ahead to 2013 was "tempting."

From 2007-2011, Wayne Valley was enormously successful, reaching the Passaic County Final Four in four of those five seasons. They won it all in 2010, but slipped a bit last year, though, turning in a 12-12 mark.

"Our record was a little deceiving last year," said Hoover, now in his 17th year as a Wayne Valley coach and his ninth as the head coach. "It was the youngest team I've ever had here. Most of our losses were by one or two runs. We could never really get that key hit late in the game. That's very common with young, inexperienced teams."

That, according to Hoover, should change this year. The team returns 11 key contributors from last year. The 2012 team's ace, Brian Kokos, is the lone notable loss to graduation.

"Brian's a big loss, but we've pretty much got everybody else back," Hoover said. "This year, I am very confident that the team will get those key hits. Older, more experienced players are typically not as nervous. They're generally more patient at the plate and much more mentally focused. That typically results in more hits when the game is on line."

Senior centerfield Anthony Simone, senior outfielder Matt Rugel and junior third basemen/pitcher Mike Elia are the leading returning hitters. Simone batted .341 last year with 29 hits and 18 runs scored. Rugel batted a team best .362 with 17 hits and 11 runs scored and Elia batted.343 with 24 hits and 13 RBI as a sophomore.

Hoover is also excited about what he says is his "deepest pitching staff" ever at Wayne Valley.

"I don't know that we have one dominant pitcher, but we've got quite a few strong pitchers," Hoover said. "That's what you need in high school, especially at the end of the year when the Passaic County Tournament and the State Tournament are going on simultaneously."

Elia, senior Brian McHugh, junior Danny Wronka and sophomore Mike LoPresti are also expected to contribute on the mound. All will have the luxury of pitching to senior catcher John Anthony Pizzi, who Hoover calls "a very good defensive catcher."

"I'm confident that this group will contend for League, County and State titles," Hoover said. "We open up against West Milford, the defending State Sectional Champs (April 1, 10 a.m.), so we'll know what type of team we have right off the bat."